Jan. 31, 2014

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano is introduced during the Detroit Economic Club's Big Four luncheon held during the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. / Kimberly P. Mitchell/Detroit Free Press

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano isn’t saying yet whether he’ll seek re-election, but he raised $117,000 last year just in case.

Ficano tapped his appointees, other county employees, vendors, unions and political action committees to bring in the cash, which leaves him with $318,633 in his campaign account and another $85,762 in his political action committee.

Ficano has not said yet whether he will seek re-election but his campaign released a statement saying “the numbers reflect the continuing financial strength of the CEO.”

Ficano has had a lingering cloud over his administration stemming from the Turkia Awada Mullin severance scandal in September 2011, and candidates have been eager to run against him. State Rep. Phil Cavanagh, D-Redford Township, County Commissioner Kevin McNamara and Westland Mayor William Wild have launched campaigns for Ficano’s job, and others could enter the race before the filing deadline in April.

Reports filed today show Wild has the most money of the challengers right now, with $242,950 in his coffer, but $125,000 is money Wild loaned his campaign Dec. 28, three days before the end of the reporting period. Wild also transferred $65,000 from the account he established to run for mayor.

“I did put in some of my own money to get organized, but I think all serious candidates do,” Wild said. “We have an aggressive fund-raising plan to raise $1.5 million.”

Wild said he started fund-raising in earnest only in November and the response has been good.

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McNamara raised $76,016 but spent more than $71,000 and ended with a balance of $46,622 — but said he plans to raise much more.

McNamara did draw contributions from some Ficano appointees, including Assistant County Executive Alan Helmkamp, Director of Veterans Affairs Kevin Kelley and Deborah Blair-Krosnicki, who works in labor relations for the county. McNamara even pulled in a $100 contribution from Wild, but it was made last February, before Wild announced his own run.

McNamara said he can’t run a campaign on what’s he got, but he said the bulk of his fund-raising just began two weeks ago, after the reporting period closed.

“We’ve got fund-raising targets, and I can tell you that I’m $2,200 behind where I need to be,” McNamara said.

Cavanagh raised $73,480 but $50,100 of that was money he loaned to his campaign. He couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday.

Ficano’s total in his campaign account is about half as much as he had at the same point in his last race, when he faced only token opposition. At the end of 2009, Ficano had $650,936 in his campaign coffer.

Ficano’s campaign spent more than $130,000 in 2013, including $45,330 paid to Joann Abdenour, a former appointee who has long worked on his campaigns. The records show no payments to former Assistant County Executive Nader Fakhouri, who spearheaded Ficano’s fund-raising efforts in previous campaigns before he left county government in March 2012 for health reasons.